Atlantic Injury Notes: Lyon, Motte, Tavares, Samuelsson

The Red Wings are close to having netminder Alex Lyon back in the lineup, as head coach Todd McLellan told reporters Wednesday (including Daniella Bruce of the team’s official site) he’ll travel on their upcoming four-game road trip. They don’t have a specific date circled for his return, so he likely remains unavailable tonight against the Panthers, his former team. This is the third injury-related absence of the season for Lyon, who missed a combined 12 games with a lower-body injury before New Year’s and has now missed the last three games with an upper-body injury he sustained on Jan. 7 against the Senators. Lyon has a .902 SV% and 2.71 GAA in 16 appearances, translating to 1.4 goals saved above expected (per MoneyPuck). Struggling veteran Ville Husso will continue serving as Cam Talbot’s backup.

All-positions forward Tyler Motte is also dealing with an upper-body injury he sustained on Tuesday against the Sharks and won’t join the team to begin the road trip, McLellan said (via Carley Johnston of the team’s official site). The coach added that he hadn’t been ruled out for all four games and could fly out to meet the team later. After struggling with nine points in 69 games last year for the Lightning, Motte went pointless in his first four games of the year before missing significant time with a previous UBI. Upon returning, Motte was a frequent healthy scratch but has worked his way up into a more stable spot in the lineup, dressing in eight straight. His return to the lineup after a pair of scratches coincided with the beginning of the Wings’ seven-game winning streak that ended Tuesday, during which span he had a pair of assists and a minus-four rating.

More health news from around the Atlantic Division:

• The Maple Leafs may be without center John Tavares for tonight’s game after the star sustained an apparent right leg injury during yesterday’s practice. Head coach Craig Berube told reporters, including David Alter of The Hockey News, that he didn’t see the play happen and that the former captain was still being evaluated. Tavares hasn’t been held out of action since a one-game absence due to illness in the third game of the campaign. The 34-year-old pivot has enjoyed a rebound from last year’s dip in production, clicking around a point per game once again with 42 in 44 contests.
• Sabres defenseman Mattias Samuelsson returned to the lineup in last night’s win over the Hurricanes after missing a pair of games due to illness. The still-developing shutdown man logged nearly 20 minutes. He posted a plus-one rating in the team’s narrow 4-2 victory, in which they managed to record a goal on no shots in the third period after Ryan McLeod was awarded an empty-netter on what otherwise would have been a penalty shot thanks to a Brent Burns slash. Samuelsson was again hamstrung by injuries in 2024-25, missing 12 games with a lower-body issue earlier in the year. When in the lineup, he has five points and a minus-seven rating while averaging 18:25 per game, his lowest usage since his rookie season.